Profile

I am an applied environment and development researcher with in-depth theoretical knowledge and experience of climate security and transboundary lake water systems research leading to academic achievements that integrate a range of disciplines including environmental management and policy, water security and poverty, and peace-prosperity studies. Specifically, my research advances understanding of the social dimensions of climate change impact, focusing on:

The links between climate change and new security challenges at range of scales in both multi-functional urban and rural settings;

Social-ecological systems approaches, including gender analysis, to support the achievement of Land Degradation Neutrality;

Development of sustainable livelihood and composite vulnerability assessment metrics for communicating locally appropriate insights on climate adaptation decision-making/resilience building; and

The practical and policy mechanisms that can advance the integration of climate adaptation, water governance and conflict management programmes to enable inclusive and sustainable development.

I use theories and methods from both the environmental social sciences and political economy, and has expertise in: leading qualitative and quantitative research methods; transdisciplinary research practices for co-generation and implementation of actionable knowledge in environmental change research; and database development to facilitate use of climate change and environmental security information in decision making.

I have considerable expertise in applied field research in challenging environments in Africa and can cross-fertilise different water security, climate change and sustainable development research issues and literatures, combining academic and practitioner debates to make previously uncharted connections visible. My previous research has involved working in partnership with multiple research partners and interdisciplinary teams in Africa and the UK to co-develop new integrated methodologies and analytical approaches for assessing climate and water conflict vulnerabilities, providing progressive research support for development actors and poor communities in water-dependent lake riparian zones. I have granted several topical media interviews to journalists in the UK and elsewhere - including the BBC World Services, UK Sunday Times and Al Jazeera – on subjects relating to insurgent struggles in the Sahel, climate security in Lake Chad and the Great Green Wall Initiative in Africa. Over the last five years I have secured several internal and external grants, from small travel grants up to research fellowships and research dissemination grants.

I was formerly a DFID/Commonwealth Scholar at Greenwich University, London (2009 - 2010), and a US SSRC (Social Science Research Council) Research Fellow (2013 – 2014). I hold a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics (First Class – University of Nigeria) and a PhD in Environmental Sustainability (University of Leeds, UK - 2016).

Research interests

I am interested in applying and integrating research techniques from across different environmental science and global development, sustainability and security research areas to better understand the interrelationships between people, places and the environment in a human-dominated world. Specifically, my interests cross-cut the following research domains:

<h4>Research projects</h4>
<p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://environment.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Qualifications

PhD Environmental Sustainability

MSc Natural Resources and Sustainable Environmental Management

BSc Agricultural Economics

Professional memberships

International Society for Ecological Economics

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Sustainability Professionals Network

Student education

I support/contribute to various modules in the interdisciplinary fields of Global Development and the Environmental Social Sciences.